The story of Wilford Woodruff's conversion was simply a continuation of the life carefully prepared to receive the new message, and to embrace in all sincerity the truth which it contained. What a similarity of experience is found in the lives of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, and indeed thousands of Latter-day Saints! It was the same spirit of inquiry, the same profound and heartfelt desire to know the whole truth of God's existence and His divine purpose respecting the children of men. The truth is, the new spirit of a coming dispensation was upon them. Their hearts were strongly inclined to worship. They were eager to know how they should worship; for they saw in the religious contentions of those days a spirit strange to the teachings of the Bible. They were in very truth, "Sheep who knew the shepherd's voice and a stranger they would not follow." {36} There is something beautiful in the ambitions of Wilford Woodruff throughout a long life of great service. He was ambitious to know the will of God and to be worthy of Divine approbation. If he could only be an active worker in the Church of Christ; if the Lord would only receive him into Divine service, his ambitions would be realized. On January 25th, 1834, Elder Pulsipher organized the Saints in Richland into a branch of the Church. He ordained Wilford Woodruff to the office of a teacher and gave him a written license which embodied the certificate of his baptism and his ordination. "I felt," he writes, "that I could truly exclaim with the prophet of God, 'I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.' The fulness of the everlasting gospel had come at last. It filled my heart with great joy. It laid the foundation of a greater and more glorious work than I ever expected to see in this life. I pray God in the name of Jesus Christ to guide my future life, that I may live to His honor and glory, and be a blessing to my fellowmen, and in the end be saved in His celestial kingdom, even so, Amen." {37} CHAPTER 6. ZION'S CAMP, 1834. His First Call.--Leaves for Kirtland.--His Neighbors' Warning.--First Meeting with Prophet.--A Remarkable Prophetic Gift.--Zion's Camp.--Zelph.--Escape Mob at Fishing River.--Epidemic of Cholera.--His Residence in Missouri.--Consecrations. Perhaps no man in the Church ever felt more profoundly the truth of the words, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform," than Wilford Woodruff. He was so intensely spiritual, so completely devoted to the service of God, that all through his life the miraculous manifestations of God's purposes were abundantly given. He had never based his faith upon miracles, they merely confirmed what he believed with all his heart and supported his ideas of the teachings of Holy Writ.